This has happened for a while. I turn the power on and hear the psi start up and the hard
drive whirling. I look at the screen and it is not registering a signal. As time has gone
on I have had to power on with a few attempts before it goes through the boot up process.

I know when it has found the boot up process because the psu winds down and
goes quiet. Now I can't get it to boot at all with many many attempts. Somehow it has
stuck and won't boot.

There must be a lose wire or something. Can anyone help
me diagnose what is wrong ?

It doesn't sound as if he's getting as far as the BIOS screen now, so I'm not sure if the
hard drive is the obvious culprit here. If it was, you could maybe prove that by getting
the machine to boot from a CD. If there is no form of obvious error reporting from the
motherboard (i.e. error beeps) then that to me would be making me think motherboard
failure, or the motherboard not getting enough power either because of a faulty PSU or
loose connection.

Tested the other hard drive and the same happens. Nothing. The PSU is pretty new. Sod's
law, I took the side panel off, opened up and it booted twice after a few attempts. Put
it back together and hey presto, no boot up.

What follows is just what I have learned over the last 5 years or so.Do you have any
kind of Windows disc? XP, 98 almost anything will do I think.

Go into the BIOS
setup and set to boot first from CD. If it boots into Win setup from the CD drive straight
away that rules out the PSU.

If not, remove all hardware, PCI, PCIe boards all
usb kit then try. If none of this works it could be a bad connection. Don't know if you
know but you cannot get a shock inside a PC (but watch fans and DON'T wear rings!) If you
have it running sans cover, have a wriggle bash and pull at everything in a sytematic
manner.

If it's not registering a signal, it could be the monitor lead , the monitor or most
likely the graphics card.I have had a similar problem with an old ati card. Changed card
and all well. Or it could be Bios is screwed or motherboard as other poster has
mentioned....If it's possible put graphics card in another slot, or try a different one
without connecting the hard drive and see if you have a setup screen...

No, it's not the monitor as this wouldn't stop the boot-up. I know the sound when it
connects to the boot as the whirring stops and it goes quiet. The monitor works fine. If
no boot up the monitor will not register a signal. Put the windows XP disk in the cd drive
and it didn't,t do anything. It's a 2004 Medion which I need to replace soon but I just
need to get into it as there is important stuff on the drive. It always started up at
least after 2 -5 attempts but now it doesn't want to know. How do I get into the bios if
it won't even boot ?

ive had a similar thing before, check where the main atx power lead from the psu is seated
correctly on the motherboard also check to see if there is a square 4 hole molex power
supply socket near the cpu socket, i have no idea how it happened in mine but part of the
main atx lead was half out so it was only booting intermittently, good luck hope this
helps some!

We get a lot of 'lose'
being spelled as 'loose' around here, but that's the first time I've seen 'loose' spelled
as 'lose'!

Are you getting a series of beeps at the start? These usually
indicate the sort of error. If you're not even getting those then I'd say it's the
motherboard. In fact I'd say it's the motherboard anyway. It sounds like it isn't the hard
drive, and not the GPU, and not the PSU, so the motherboard looks to be the culprit. But
open it up and check the wiring just in case.

I had a computer from around
that era and the motherboard on that started playing up a few years ago, it would take a
few attempts to boot before it started working, and that lasted for a long time before it
finally went. Pete Kaine reckoned it was something like a dodgy connection on the board,
maybe a bad bit of solder, and that after a few attempts at starting up it would heat up
and expand to make the connection work (can't remember exactly what he said now, but it
was that sort of thing). But finally it went for good.

I found a second-hand
replacement motherboard of the same type going cheaply through Google, so that was a cheap
and relatively easy fix and that computer is still going today in another room, although
it will soon be in the loft as it's getting too ancient now to be of much use for
anything.

I'd try popping a different graphics card in to eliminate that. Graphics card failure can
cause all sorts of odd things to happen, but if the graphics card was ok you should at
least be able to see something on the screen by way of an error message.

Also, does your PC have little LEDs on the main board? Some do, that can be used to
diagnose a POST fault. Other boards use combinations of long and short beeps, and you can
look up that code.

I've repaired PCs that have "nothing" happening on power
up, and I can tell you 100% that even though you would think the main-board is the
problem, I've seen hard drives, CD drives, processors, graphics cards, and PSU's, all
cause the computer to seem dead, so just because there's nothing happening on screen is no
reason to necessarily suspect the motherboard.

I'd do this in order
personally...

Disconnect all the drives, remove all but one stick of RAM -
see if it boots up reliably. Try a different stick of RAM if not.
Try a different
graphics card.
Try a different power supply.
Try a different processor.

Unfortunately that does depend on getting access to spares - it would possibly be
cheaper to get a shop to look at it than buying spares unless you know what's at fault or
can get hold of them to test.

Thanks, I will try that but of course leave the hard drive connected otherwise it won't.
Boot up. I think it has something to do with heating up and starting to warm up when a few
attempts have been made. What I can't understand is a few posts ago I had it working
after a long time trying. Then as soon as I got it back in its place and tried again it
failed. Something is a miss.

Now as its for editing sound and photographs,
this PC is very slow and out of date so it won't be any hardship to upgrade BUT I am using
XP and Outlook express which I want to keep because I like them. I have put off getting a
new PC because of this. I have no idea how I will port all my emails over but I do need
something faster for sure. I run my Cubase SX3 on my other music PC which is also getting
a bit shaky. I am wondering if I should get something that can handle both video/photo and
sound editing so I can use SX3 on it when my music one gets too slow.

Sorry
if its off topic but its all relevant really. Any ideas that won't cost me Megga bucks
would be appreciated. Dino PC seem a good company to get a good deal.

Quote Marbury:Now as its for
editing sound and photographs, this PC is very slow and out of date so it won't be any
hardship to upgrade BUT I am using XP and Outlook express which I want to keep because I
like them. I have put off getting a new PC because of this. I have no idea how I will port
all my emails over

A good reason
for abandoning email clients for a web-mail service IMO.

There are lots of
tutorials out there for saving/transferring email between PCs and utilities to do it for
you. It's actually a relatively simple thing to do, but not if you're not confident about
what you're doing. With Outlook it was (almost) as simple as copying the Outlook.pst file
across, but IIRC it's not quite so simple with Outlook Express - which is long dead and
worth abandoning anyway.

Quote The Elf:A good reason for
abandoning email clients for a web-mail service IMO.

Maybe. But be careful. The "free" ones are quite capable of
changing the rules - either withdrawing the service completely or making it paid. Google
are starting to charge business users. Their definition of "business" may change. And
any mail provider may have a meltdown. They'll be very sorry. A paid one might even
compensate you. But your data will be gone.

If your address book and/or any
stored messages are important to you, I strongly recommend having a copy on YOUR computer
and backups.

Quote The Elf:A good reason for
abandoning email clients for a web-mail service IMO.

You're thinking of email clients using POP, which was showing it's age
by the 1990s.

Since 2000 or so, IMAP has come of age. It enables clients to
access email live on a server, without having to shovel it all onto to the workstation.
Get a new computer, simply enter your IMAP settings and there's your mail right there
(with all folders sent-items). Want to use multiple computers, and/or mobile devices ?
No problem with IMAP. All can be open at once, and happily go bing when new mail arrives.

( none of the above worked properly with POP )

But I concede,
the latest web-based email services are actually very good, and almost as good as a native
IMAP client

Sounds like a RAM fault, try re-seating and or cleaning / replacing - When building a
system it is a good idea to Ark ie use two of each component were possible - If you have
done this, try removing one RAM module and see if the system boots - Sometimes ppl tend to
confuse booting and Posting - Listing system details helps... ie Acer P4 775 2GB RAM 1TB
Seagate HD - Display card, so on and so on

on a separate note Seagate drives
are a better bet as they have a micro code chip that can be replaced on their system
boards

Just Did something I hope wasn't terrible. Placed my hard drive on top of my ipad but
didn't realise that the iPads cover is magnetic. When I picked the drive up it was
sticking to the cover. Will this have wiped it ?

Quote Marbury:Just Did something
I hope wasn't terrible. Placed my hard drive on top of my ipad but didn't realise that the
iPads cover is magnetic. When I picked the drive up it was sticking to the cover. Will
this have wiped it ?

Don't
think it could have wiped it completely. You would have to take the platters through their
Curie point or magnetic saturation to do that I think. But you might have seriously
corrupted some data and the only recourse might be a full format?

Dave.(I well
remember buggering a credit card with a Pozi magnetic bit adaptor years ago!)

The psu has only recently been replaced. As for the card, that was new 3 years ago. Can't
be the card anyhow because I have taken it out and it still won't boot.

As
for the hard drive, I have connected it to my music PC to rescue all my data. I remember I
did this some time ago with the same result. When I try to open my documents it says "not
accessable-access denied"

It doesn't sound like the PSU or GPU or RAM to me from what you say, although it's true
that damaged GPUs can cause strange problems so you don't suspect them. Can you try the
GPU from your music PC to at least rule this out for sure? But it still sounds like the
motherboard to me.

>As for the hard drive, I have connected it to my music
PC to rescue all my data. I remeber I did this some time ago with the same result. When I
try to open my documents it says "not accessable-access denied"

Don't know
why it did that. You should be able to read the drive when it is hooked up to another
machine. Did you try looking at the file permissions? Or perhaps the cable was acting up?
(Is it PATA or SATA?)

But anyway, you have backups of everything on an
external drive, right?

Yes, all my important data but I haven't backed up in the last couple of days or so so I
need to get into this drive. All my emails which are business related with receipts etc. I
have tried copying earlier backed up outlook files into the music pc's outlook but they
don't show in outlook when I open it.

Again, when I try to look at
properties in my documents it says 0 bytes. I think it is something to do with Medion
imprinting the drive I remember someone saying a while back. I'm goosed if I can't access
the drive !

Quote:As for the hard drive, I
have connected it to my music PC to rescue all my data. I remeber I did this some time ago
with the same result. When I try to open my documents it says "not accessable-access
denied"

That sounds like a
permissions issue, not damaged data. It can be sorted out.

Quote Marbury:Yes, all my
important data but I haven't backed up in the last couple of days or so so I need to get
into this drive. All my emails which are business related with receipts etc. I have tried
copying earlier backed up outlook files into the music pc's outlook but they don't show in
outlook when I open it.

Again, when I try to look at properties in my
documents it says 0 bytes. I think it is something to do with Medion imprinting the drive
I remember someone saying a while back. I'm goosed if I can't access the drive !

What are your "Delete from server"
settings in Outlook? If the emails are still on your computer, it's quite possible
they're still on the remote server.

Quote Marbury:I use outlook
express 6 which stores them all on my computer.

Which doesn't mean they aren't still on the remote server too. Like I
said, check your settings.

Quote:I keep all my payments from different media companies in folders
in Outlook Express as well as other important stuff for my accounts.

Not clever. The message store in Outlook Express
is not designed to be a permanent filing system. And, particularly when a message store
grows beyond a certain size, it can be very unreliable. Any data you want to keep should
be filed outside the mail program. We all keep more than we probably should in our email
stores. But when a computer dies, there shouldn't be a panic over transferring essential
business records that are ONLY in an email store. Don't forget - your next computer won't
HAVE Outlook Express. It doesn't exist in current versions of Windows.

Regarding your computer - I think you've reached the limits of what you can do with your
own resources and advice from the Internet. Take it to someone who knows how. If he
coaxes it into life but recommends a new motherboard, believe him. (Haven't you had
problems before with this computer?)

Remind me, have you tried swapping in
completely different memory sticks?

Yes, swapped memory sticks. Also the psu with the same result. I could get another
motherboard on Ebay for a few quid but again, what if it is the CPU ?

That's
why I have been putting off getting a new machine because of windows not supporting
outlook express files. Why didn't they just make the files universal so they could be
transferred? Makes sense to me. I like XP the way it is really so not sure what to do.

Quote Marbury:Yes, swapped
memory sticks. Also the psu with the same result. I could get another motherboard on Ebay
for a few quid but again, what if it is the CPU ?

That's why I have been
putting off getting a new machine because of windows not supporting outlook express files.
Why didn't they just make the files universal so they could be transferred? Makes sense to
me. I like XP the way it is really so not sure what to do.

>I could get another motherboard on Ebay for a few quid but again, what if it is the
CPU ?

Far more likely to be the motherboard than the CPU. You can also get
old motherboards complete with CPU for not much money (I think my second-hand motherboard
came with a CPU even though it wasn't advertised as such, which saved me the trouble of
swapping my CPU to the new board).

However, your motherboard, not being from
one of the big manufacturers, might be more difficult to get hold of. You could try a
similarly-specified board from another manufacturer (with same Intel chipset), but it may
not work with your current XP installation, and I take it that trying to save that is your
current goal (otherwise you might as well upgrade things and re-install).

But
anyway, what I want to know is whether Medion were encrypting your hard drive? And what's
going on with the file permissions when the drive is hooked up to your other computer?

Booting without RAM -- never tried it, but in theory you should be able to at
least get into the BIOS.

XP -- Windows won't be supporting XP for much
longer. That might not bother you now, but it means XP machines will start becoming more
vulnerable to viruses, and most new software won't be written to support XP. Best to
upgrade to W7 or W8. I hung on to XP for as long as I could, but there's no point in
installing it on a new computer these days, unless you really really have no choice (eg.
because of your esoteric piece of hardware that only runs on XP and which your earnings
depend entirely upon).

Some helpful advice there much appreciated. Now then, buying a new motherboard would be
counter productive as I do need a better, faster machine that can handle images, video and
audio. I would just need to know how I can access my important data from my hard drive on
another PC. As it says "access denied" it. Doesn't give me any other options.

I am no expert as you well know (as I wouldn't be here) but when I had a different kind
of booting problem a few years ago, a friend who is good with computers did tell me that
Medion have incripted the drives so they can only be read on that machine. Not sure why
they do this but that's what he reckoned. Since I got the Medion from Aldi in 2005 I have
cloned the origanal drive to this current 500 gb.

If I can just read the
drive and get the important stuff off it I can move on to pastures new. The question is,
how ?